Moving back to Dubai after 22 years has been an experience! Back then we didn't have the internet or blogs. Now we do I can jot down my thoughts on daily life, things we come up against, things we enjoy, the multi-national society, the laws, the weather...plus other things in general which catch my attention.

Wednesday, September 03, 2008

Back to blogging.

Two weeks in Singapore, arrived back in Dubai yesterday evening and this is a rambling bits-and-pieces post of things that come to mind.

Dontcha love Dubai International Airport? It seems to take as long to get from the aircraft to the exit as it does to fly from Singapore. They say that the skeletons of lost travellers have been found in the labyrinth of corridors, although that could just be a rumour.

DNATA seemed to have run out of trucks to fetch the baggage from the aircraft to the carousel, it took forty-five minutes and the bags appeared one or two at a time as though the handlers were carrying them individually from the plane.

Over an hour after we disembarked we finally got out of the airport.

And so to Dubai.

Not sure that I missed much, but then to be honest I haven't been keeping in touch.

But it's deja vu all over again now that we're back.

It took fifty minutes to cover one kilometre in Dubai Marina this morning, with our beloved RTA obviously deciding the best way to deal with the gridlock they caused is to ignore it. Well, they don't live in Dubai Marina I'm sure, so taking two or three hours to get to the office isn't their problem.

The closed bridge I talked about before is still closed - why open it when that would simply result in the traffic being less gridlocked?

People are still using it though, a whole fleet of small sedans to big 4x4s were jumping up the kerb, through the roadworks and off across the bridge.

Of course a lot of them are too important to wait until they get there to jump the kerb, so they drive down the wrong side of the road into the oncoming traffic - like this one, wrong side of the road, wrong way round the roundabout and across the truck, causing a jam in the opposite direction...

Then we have a fire on a construction site. Situation normal there then.

This one made the news though - it was in the US$1.5 billion Atlantis Resort, the flagship development of Palm Jumeirah. The lobby area had what looked like a big, big fire with a lot of damage.

The resort people are saying the hotel will open as scheduled on September 24, but there are conflicting opinions. Looking at the Reuters photo published in Gulf News I'd say they don't have a chance...

Then the beach romp case gets a mention, the case being adjourned until September 9.

I loved the optimism of Michelle and Vince, the stars of the show, who asked for a speedy verdict so that they could return home soon.

They're not expecting a jail term, obviously.

The good news is that my regular coffee shop has the Ramadan curtains up, so I can at least start the day as usual with a couple of double espressos and the newspapers.

It'll take a day or two to settle back into the swing of things I'm sure, and catching up with the news on all your blogs is high on the list.

How was Singapore?

Construction everywhere, rain every day, humidity which I always find much worse than Dubai's - it's relentless too, never below about 75% I'm sure. So this was not our best visit.

A rare view from the hotel room...

The usual view from the hotel room...

It was a working trip for Mrs Seabee, I just tagged along for the ride and had planned to do all the touristy things while she was working. I gave up on that, but we still had a reasonable time. We went back to favourite restaurants, found some new ones, spent time with family there

I'll post some photos when I've sorted them out, if I can find any that I think are interesting to anyone but us.

I don't know what to think about the beach-sex case, I read an article yesterday which claims that there is actually no DNA evidence, there was no assault and that the media has pretty much inflated the issue.

Sam, there's no doubt the British tabloids have used it to push readership up - the headline NSB quoted is typical of the coverage - by making it as lurid as possible and bringing in the 'conservative Muslim' angle.

However, remember the letter Vince sent to 7Days included the admission: I have been accused of engaging in indecent relations in a public place which I deny, although I readily admit that my conduct and behaviour on the evening in question was inappropriate and beyond the bounds of acceptability in the United Arab Emirate of Dubai. Having drunk more than I should during the course of the day, a friendly encounter with a female acquaintance became overly affectionate at a time and place when we both should have known better.

I like how you are always armed with a camera to capture your traffic woes - all you need is to blow up the licence plate and name and shame - surely if the RTA knew the offenders they would take action - right? Aaah dream on ( as you snooze in your car averaging one metre per hour in the jam!! )

About Me

We lived in Dubai from 1977 to 1984, visited on a couple of holidays, then moved back again in 2005. We came because we wanted to watch the incredible development as it happened and we moved back to Oz in 2011.
I now blog on Life in Oz and the link is on my last post here.
I welcome comments & debate on the blog, but insults are unnecessary and inappropriate. I will delete any which are libel, racist, obscene, advertising or which are simply to make a point but are completely off-subject. If you want to do that, create your own blog. Oh, and I've decided to add a new category to the delete list because there are too many of them left on blogs - stupid comments.
If you want to use my photos or quote from my posts you may do so - but only if you credit the source and give a link back to my original post.